Fix SmartTube “Unknown error – Response code: 403”

SmartTube is an ad-free YouTube alternative for smart TVs with Google TV or Android TV, Chromecast or Amazon FireTV sticks. Many people have become used to being able to watch videos without ad breaks – but for a few days now there have been problems with SmartTube: videos can no longer be played and a 403 error appears. Find out more about the background and how you can easily fix the problem.

Notice:
This is a translation of the German article. Please note that especially menu names, button labels, names, screenshots etc. might not be translated (correctly). Feel free to let us know in the comments if you notice any errors.

Error

Since July 9th, 2024, there have been an increasing number of reports online that SmartTube and other YouTube alternatives are experiencing problems. At first glance, everything seems to be normal with the SmartTube app: Subscriptions, channels, search results and thumbnails load without any problems. However, as soon as you click on one of the videos, an “Unknown error – Response code: 403” message appears and the video cannot be opened.

The error refers to the HTTP status code 403, which means “access denied” or “forbidden” and indicates that access to the requested resource has been blocked by the server.

Reason

The reason for this error appears to be an anti-bot check “suddenly” introduced by Google (the operator of YouTube), which has not (yet) been implemented by SmartTube and other YouTube alternatives. Further information on this can be found at Heise (German), among others. There are also many comments and complaints about the error in SmartTube’s GitHub issues (see e.g. #3606).

Solution

The developer of SmartTube reacted quickly and released several updates, some of which contain temporary fixes for the different video resolutions. As of July 19, 2024, there are at least five published versions that affect the 403 error: Versions 22.36, 22.38, 22.39, 22.43 and 22.44

Thanks to the update mechanism integrated in SmartTube, the solution is very simple: Follow these instructions to update SmartTube to the latest version. After the update, the error 403 has disappeared and the videos can be played again as usual.